Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1887-06-16

1t is not now in the power of man to in
vent new religion All he can do is to Sc
lect parts of the old and piece them together.
So when Joseph Smith produced his "Golden
Bible" in Wayne coutlty, n. Y, in 1880, he
simply preached a reform of the modern
church with renewal of the gifts exercised by
the ancient apostles, such as prophesying,
healing, speaking in unknown tongues, etc.
Almost every year from that date till Brig
ham Young's death has witnessed the addi-
ton of some new doctrine, spiritual wifery"
in 1S4042, polygamy in 1S43 (kept secret till
1852, blood atonement in 1854, and SO on.
Now the SONS of the original prophet, namely,
Joseph, William and David Hyrum Smith,
repudiate all that was done after 1874, the
year their father was killed, deny that he
ever taught or practiced polygamy and pro-
pose to restore the church to what it
was in the beginning, namely, an improved
Christian church, with few extra frills OF
an apostolic nature. Unfortunately for
this scheme, no two men could be
more unlike than "Old Joe" and "Young
Joe" The former was painfully prolific of
revelations. "Young joe" OH the other hand,
| has never "revelated," and the Utah Nor
| mons call him the "dumb prophet"
| w,
church in New York, Sidney Rigdon, an
apostate Baptist preacher, had collected, near
Mentor, o., queer band of semi lunatics,
| who condemned all the churches and held
that the Lord was about to reveal himself
anew. Rigdon visited Smith and accepted
his leadership, the two squads were united,
and so a community of about 100 families
was organized, which formed the settlement
at Kirkland, Lake county, o., about five
| miles from the home Of the late President
Garfield Early in 1881 the town was begun;
in 1882 it was quite place That year also
Brigham Young was converted and located
there; in 1888 this temple was begun, and i'll
1886 it was completed and consecrated with
| frantic performances of various kinds. In
the meantime the Mormons had made o
settlement i'll Jackson county, Missouri,
where they had q small war with tie Cen
tiles, and whence they were driven into the
northwest corner of that state. AT Kirkland
they set up a community MILL store and
] bank; the goods from the store were sold OH
credit or given i'll payment for work on the
| temple, and the notes of the bank were put
out so industriously that in the panic of 1887
they sank to six cents on the dollar. Soon
after all the principal Mormons fled to Mis-
souri,, the bank notes became worthless and
only few of the original Rigdonites re-
mained about Kirkland.
Kirkland sank into quiet country village,
Mentor became noted as q seat of learning
and the abode of quiet and cultured people.
The temple stood unoccupied for years
then it was long used as wheat
warehouse, and for short time
as a pork packing house. But it was re
markably well built structure and took nc
harm from these profane uses Finally
when the Mormon episode was almost forgot
ton, an agent of the "Young Joeites" quietly
bought the building and adjacent lots ant
about 1875 the concern was thoroughly
ceansed and rather handsomely finished i'll
side; few of the old visionaries came back
a few lew converts, and now there are Nor
mons enough about Kirkland to maintain {
good congregation and "guard the sacred
fires" as it were. The style of the building
does not follow any order of architecture
fully, but nevertheless the temple presents {
bold and attractive appearance; the stranger
uninformed of its history, would pause tt
admire it as an interesting specimen of th
quaint and old fashioned country academy
The brick and stone are of the very best quail
ty, and there is no reason, natural convul
sions aside, why it should not stand thou
sand years. -